Disappearing Middle Class: Bilingual Ph.D. Accepts Rent Money From Church

[Lumi]

Disappearing Middle Class: Bilingual Ph.D. Accepts Rent Money From Church

Laura Bassett
Huffington Post
July 23, 2010

Until 18 months ago, Maria Ortiz says she never had to search for a job in her life. As a highly skilled bilingual Ph.D. and the first ever Mexican-American woman to be admitted into Brigham Young University's graduate school of management, Ortiz was always the kind of woman universities would beg to come work for them.

After working and teaching in California for 20 years, Ortiz was recruited in 2007 for a highly specialized job at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She left her stable situation to take a chance on a new program she believed in, but the program folded due to budget cuts less than two years later in January 2009, right in the middle of the recession.

Ortiz frantically applied for jobs for the next 18 months, running through all $15,000 of her savings, exhausting all 99 weeks of unemployment benefits and eventually having to draw from Social Security and accept financial aid from her local church congregation to help pay the rent. Monday morning, on her 63rd birthday, Ortiz says she received yet another job rejection phone call, and she felt like she could no longer hold it together.

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[Lumi]

Suicide Rates Up Since Recession Began, Debt A 'Way Of Life' For 99ers

Since April, The Huffington Post has reported on the 99ers, individuals who've been unable to find work, and have seen unemployment benefits run out after 99 weeks on the program. In the coming years, we may come to discover not just the economic ramifications of the recession, but the emotional as well.

Though stock prices may be dropping, one thing is on the rise: suicide rates.

Though experts say we may not know for years how much the rate has increased, calls to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline increased by 36 percent in 2008, and another 15 percent in 2009.

 

[DOGS THAT BARK]

Disappearing Middle Class: Bilingual Ph.D. Accepts Rent Money From Church

Laura Bassett
Huffington Post
July 23, 2010

Until 18 months ago, Maria Ortiz says she never had to search for a job in her life. As a highly skilled bilingual Ph.D. and the first ever Mexican-American woman to be admitted into Brigham Young University's graduate school of management, Ortiz was always the kind of woman universities would beg to come work for them.

After working and teaching in California for 20 years, Ortiz was recruited in 2007 for a highly specialized job at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She left her stable situation to take a chance on a new program she believed in, but the program folded due to budget cuts less than two years later in January 2009, right in the middle of the recession.

Ortiz frantically applied for jobs for the next 18 months, running through all $15,000 of her savings, exhausting all 99 weeks of unemployment benefits and eventually having to draw from Social Security and accept financial aid from her local church congregation to help pay the rent. Monday morning, on her 63rd birthday, Ortiz says she received yet another job rejection phone call, and she felt like she could no longer hold it together.

Read Entire Article

I know I could not hire her conidering her math skills--"running out of 99 weeks of unemployment in 18 months" :SIB

--Been teaching for 20 years as PHD and still renting?

Drawing social security-- did not any of schools she taught at have retirement plans?

Most teachers retire at younger age (national ave 59)

Appears to me this lady had phd in same thing Obama's parents did--disfuntionality.